Demons were by their intrinsic nature creatures of corruption. But not only corruption. Their god, Samleos, had made them for the express purpose of subverting and destroying the world the other gods had made. As such, while the general inclination of demons was to infest and corrupt already existing life, thus transforming said life into a vessel for the continued efforts of Samleos’ spawn to ruin Oros, not all demons followed that same pattern. Some demons were, for lack of a better word, destined for more. Some very few were entities known as Greater Demons.
Unlike their lesser brethren who relied on the warped shells of the tainted and dead to operate due to their frail and vulnerable true bodies, greater demons needed no such stolen armor. Greater demons were naturally larger and more physically powerful than the more common kind and were not only capable of withstanding extreme amounts of damage, but they were also able to cause mass levels of devastation via powerful spells and potent bodily attacks. While not capable of spawning more demons the way a Demon Mother of Samleos could, Greater Demons were still exceptionally dangerous and rightly feared for their ability to bring just as much power to bear as their matriarch counterparts, at least on an individual level.
“Some scholars cite the existence of Greater Demons as proof that demons actually do have levels, the same as people do,” Aila continued her explanation as Dys carried her along. “While others point out that if demons had levels and multiple classes, then we should see more greater demons than we do. They’re rare, extremely so, just as infrequently spotted as matriarchs. So if any demon can become one, why aren’t there more of them considering the uncountably huge number of demons that exist during invasion times? Plus, no one has ever seen a greater demon spawn, so researchers can’t be certain of what prompts their existence, whether they are like that from the egg of if they transform at a later date.”
“Almost sounds like a chicken or the egg argument,” Dys mused as she thought over the information Aila had given her about the greater demonic entities. “No way for us to know one way or another…”
“I don’t follow. What do chickens have to do with demons?”
“You know,” Dys shrugged awkwardly as she held Aila in her arms while jogging. “Which came first, the chicken or the egg? No one knows since no one was there to record it.”
Aila stared at Dys with an eyebrow raised, her blue eyes blank.
“Why would the gods make the eggs first? There would be no one to raise the chicks when they hatched, or roost them for the weeks it takes for them to be incubated. That’s a very odd question, Jadis.”
For some reason, despite all the talk of demons and magic and the fact that she had literally met one, Jadis had forgotten that in a world where gods truly existed, the chicken and egg question no longer came across as quite so profound.
It was, at least, another topic to keep Aila distracted and thinking about things other than her uncles. In hindsight, Jadis realized that having her girlfriend talk about demons while her family could very well be fighting for their lives against said demons wasn’t the smartest topic for keeping her from thinking about all the bad things that could be happening, but it seemed her lover’s analytical nature worked in her favor in that regard. Talking about what she’d read and learned from others concerning greater demons was a different kind of mental space from thinking about her uncles and how they might be faring, or so it seemed. At least Aila wasn’t getting quiet and pensive. No, it was everyone riding in the wagon who embodied the concept of pensive.
While her passengers looked like they were experiencing varying degrees of anxiety ranging from minor to Holy Fuck We’re All Going to Die, Jay and Syd were at least making good time despite carrying the heavy weight of a wooden wagon and nine full grown adults, plus their armor and equipment. She couldn’t say that the weight was nothing, because she could most certainly feel the heavy load on her back and shoulders, but at least they were still moving at a rate faster than they would if the soldiers had been forced to march behind them.
The road they had followed to the now burnt down Rook fortress did not continue straight to Felsen, but instead went east and west towards the other forts and southeast towards another small town located in the hills. Jadis was forced to go off road once again, but in the landscape of the Broken Hills, that didn’t matter quite as much. Heading in the direction of Far Felsen with only occasional course corrections from a somber Kerr, Jadis aimed to reach the city before nightfall, breaking only once so everyone could get a drink of water and relieve themselves.
The sun was approaching the western horizon when Jadis finally spotted something she’d feared to see in the south: a column of smoke.
Jogging up one of the hills for a better look, Dys and Aila gazed out towards the sign of fire. It wasn’t a single smokey plume like the fort, but dozens rising up from the distant coast where Jadis was certain the city of Far Felsen was located. She could just barely make out the high promontory that jutted out into the sea, creating Felsen’s harbor. It was hard to see, but the castle that stood at the top of that peak didn’t look like it was on fire, at least.
“That’s not fucking good,” Dys murmured.
“No, it’s not,” Aila didn’t argue, her arm tightening around Dys a little more. “But we should get closer to make sure. It might not be as bad as it seems from here.”
Cresting a few more hills brought Jadis and her passengers close enough to get a better view of the situation, though the sight was not improved much over distant assumptions.
An army of demons, if a seething mass of chaotic and discordant creatures that acted with no cohesion or tactics could be called an army, lay siege to the walls of Far Felsen. Their numbers were far, far beyond anything Jadis had seen so far during her time on Oros. A hundred bodies slain in the streets of abandoned Alawar had seemed like big numbers to her at the time. Seeing the thousands upon thousands of demons that roiled in mindless rage across the landscape before her drove home the point that Kerr had been right. A true battle of armies was a far cry from the smaller melees and skirmishes she’d been in so far.
Beyond the masses that lay directly ahead of her, Jadis could see the leading edge of the demonic army directly attacking the walls of the city. The demons were bodily throwing themselves against the walls, the corpses of the dead turned to ramps for the still living demons to climb so they could reach the top of the walls. However, it did not look like the demons had breached the walls, not completely at any rate. Jadis could see soldiers fighting back against the horde, flashes of the armor and weapons glinting in the waning afternoon sun. There were also brighter flashes of magic interspersed among both the demons and the defenders, those signs of unnatural powers enhancing the chaotic tableau.
“I don’t think we can breach those forces to get inside the walls,” Sergeant Holtz broke the silence, his voice tight. “The odds of making it through to their questionable safety are low.”
Kerr was more direct with her words.
“That’s a fucking slaughterhouse down there. We’d have a better chance swimming to Volto from here than making it through that mess. Do not even think about attacking from this side.”
Jadis had to agree with Kerr. It didn’t matter how strong she was in a one-on-one engagement, or against small groups. The army arrayed before her would overwhelm her with their sheer numbers in a matter of seconds if she were to rush them now. There was no way she was going to senselessly throw away her second life like that, much less endanger her friends and lovers for no good reason. But that did beg the question. What were they supposed to do now that getting through to Felsen was no longer an option?
“Look, on the western side,” Thea pointed with her spear. “Do you see that?”
Directing her attention to where Thea indicated, Jadis saw what the guardswoman had spotted. On the far side of the army of demons from where they were, a second front of the battle was being fought. A contingent of soldiers had formed a line and was pushing at the demons from the west. Their numbers were far smaller than the masses the demons had fielded, but the shield wall they had made looked solid and unbroken as they pushed at the enemy from their flank. Jadis also spotted a familiar figure floating in the sky overhead, a tiny shape riding on a disk made of flames. Lothaire, the wizard Jadis had met when she’d first discovered the demon tunnels, was raining balls of fire on the demonic monstrosities below.
“The Flame Wolves must be over there,” Jay said, pointing at the hovering elf. “Or at least some of them are.”
“That’s where we should go,” Dys nodded, straightening her shoulders. “We can back up those mercenaries, help them attack from the side.”
“There are probably several different mercenary companies there,” Aila said, half-standing in Dys’ arms to see better. "There are far more soldiers on that flank than there are Flame Wolves. Some of the other forts might have avoided being hemmed in and made a counterattack.”
Jadis wasn’t a tactician and she certainly wasn’t a clairvoyant, so she couldn’t say what had happened or if it was something soldiers would reasonably do. But what she could say was that backing up the soldiers fighting on the western front seemed like the best option for them to offer aid in the battle.
Jadis didn’t wait to talk it over further with her companions and the soldiers she had saved. Enough talking had been done already. They needed to get in there and lend what help they could, if for no other reason than Eir could literally save dozens upon dozens of lives with only a touch. Perhaps even more than Jadis’ own massive strength, Eir could make a huge difference to the mercenaries fighting on the wrong side of Felsen’s walls.
Running around the outer edges of the battlefield, Jadis did her best to stay out of sight from the demons’ back lines without wasting too much time going too far around. Unfortunately, the demons didn’t have orderly, regimented lines and the rearmost demons were loose and scattered in their grouping. She ran into several groups of bone thieves, twisted wretches, and bramble fiends as she skirted around the north side, though rather than fight them, Jadis dodged and simply ran by them wherever possible. A grundwyrm blocked her path at one point, forcing Jadis to backtrack and swing wide to avoid getting caught up in a fight that would no doubt attract the attention of far more enemies than she could handle.
Demons Jadis didn’t recognize were also among the chaotic mix she evaded as she circled around to meet up with the other mercenaries. Whether they were possessed magic beasts like the giant cave spiders and sea bull, or some other variety of corrupted abomination that Jadis simply hadn’t encountered yet, she didn’t know. But when a thing that looked like a giant tree stump the size of a house with dozens of spider-like roots for legs lumbered across her path, Jadis let the thing go unprovoked. She’d probably find out what it was soon enough anyway.
Or die in the process.
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